Moroccan Expats Denied Voting Rights Despite Economic Contributions

Every year, more than 2.5 million MREs return to the Kingdom, creating a significant economic dynamic through the transfer of foreign currency. According to the Foreign Exchange Office, the amount of transfers in 2018 amounts to 65.9 billion dirhams.

Despite their importance, the Moroccan community abroad does not benefit from the rights of citizenship, like Moroccan citizens in the Kingdom. 5 million Moroccans are thus deprived of a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

Since the beginning of the practice of elections in Morocco, MREs have been allowed to vote only once, in 1984, before being banned again. Yet no legislative text deprives this category of citizens of the right to vote.

In this regard, Article 17 of the Constitution stipulates: "MREs benefit from all the rights of citizenship, in particular, the right to vote, to stand for election, through local, regional and national electoral lists. The law determines the eligibility criteria for candidates in elections, as well as the conditions and procedures for exercising the right to vote and to stand for election, from the country of residence."

For the Head of Government, Saâdeddine El Othmani, a long debate has been initiated between the various parties concerned, in particular, the Executive and the political and civil society actors, in order to reach a compromise on the various points related to this subject.

Some Moroccan officials attribute the absence of MREs in the elections to financial and logistical problems, due to their large number and geographical disparities. In 2016, the former Minister of the Interior, Mohamed Hassad, had declared before the members of Parliament that "the voting of MREs poses several problems". He had asked: "Where can we place a polling station in the United States, for example?" Then, he added: "I could surprise you if I asked you the same question about Israel, where between 700 and 800 thousand Moroccans reside".